


The Dark Reascended

by RadZoneLad



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Character Development, Gen, Redemption, redemption arc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24886090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RadZoneLad/pseuds/RadZoneLad
Summary: My take on a redemption Arc for a slightly rewritten Mephiles. After his unexpected survival, Mephiles builds a new plan to bring back Iblis and lay waste to the world once more, but something is off about where he finds himself.May have some light-gore.Criticism is always welcome.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. The Empty Cage

I have always dreaded this place.... Nothing to see, not a sound to be heard, not a person to talk to… only me and this oppressing oblivion. To ask if im am dead would be rhetorical, this scepter is far from being heaven but close enough to being a personal hell, tailor made for me. I can’t even tell if there is time in this place but i can feel my mind slowly withering away like i have been stranded in this void for eons. I have been condemned to this place because of who i was, what i was going to do even if at the time i didn't knew what it was.

The only thing this place has given to me aside from insomnia and madness, is time, of which i used for two things. Hone my power to their absolute peak. Oddly they are more centered around deceit and shade bending, mostly trough making a variety of minions with some specific kinds becoming my eyes and ears, although it has destructive powers they are somewhat lacking, but the crystals i can create have the close quarters part covered at least.

This power seems to come naturally to me, like breathing is to a man, or feathers to a bird.

But there are limits to them, since my body is made entirely out of dark, instead of drawing their powers from different sources like feelings or thoughts, they come directly out of my own body, creating a limit to how much i can use my minions, the simple cannon fodder types are the equal to almost nothing, while creating stronger ones or a secondary sets of eyes and ears is more costly.

And secondly, reflecting on my mistakes during my last attempt. How can he be so foolish to forgive them, how can he let it all go knowing that the very people he so vowed to protect betrayed him in the end, even after seeing that human die in front of his very eyes by them, he still can somehow look past that. It is so hypocritical of him, he sworn to protect the Earth and all its inhabitants but he condemns me to this oblivion seconds after my creation, am i not an inhabitant of earth ? The very first sentient being i met introduced me to this prison and only left me with his name and a will for revenge... So much for a first impression. 

Does Iblis still exists ? The last thing i can recall was being defeated as Solaris and being engulfed blinding light. After that i think i woke up ? Although this place is not too far fetched from my own nightmares... What am i thinking, of course Iblis survived, he is the body of a god, a mere blast couldn’t do him away… Right ?

I still feel this want to see Shadow being skewered, watch him barely hanging onto his dear life and feel the bliss as i witness the final gasp of air escape his lungs... but all the hate i have for him is nothing compared to how confused his actions are to me. Why can he still… forgive these things ? Every person that saw me after being released from the scepter has treated me as a monster, the only one that didn’t ran for his life the second he saw me was Silver, but he was left alone for a long time fighting an already lost battle against Iblis, when you know only loneliness and ruin and a person comes from apparently nowhere with a promise to fix everything you would inevitably find yourself trusting anything he would say.

What is in this humanity and earth Shadow finds worth protecting, they failed him, betrayed him, even after all of that he decides to even work under the same people behind that incident in space, why did he cared so much about her, most of his memories of her are about something useless, usually involving the two of them together.

I don’t know how long am i going to stay sane in this place, madness is slowly but surely coming for me i can feel it, in a matter of time my mind, myself, will be forever lost amidst mad ramblings and rants. What would have happened if Shadow didn’t trapped me in this scepter, would things turn out differently ?

_ Crack _

I sat up from the ‘ground’ perking my head up looking in all directions for that sound, i looked in the ‘horizon’ and saw… a crack !? H-How could there be a crack in this oblivion h-how? Light began shine through the cracks, pieces of the void began to fall, with each piece falling the light grew stronger and stronger, i shielded my eyes and then everything went black.

When i thought that this would be the end of me, that i would fade into nothingness a fate more desirable than going mad. I woke up in a dark place surrounded by stones, metallic rubble, carts tilted to the side and scorch marks on the stone walls. 

Close to me i could see some purple crystal shards scattered on the floor, was i...freed, where am i ? I looked up and saw light gently shining through a hole. I spent no time and flew up there and out of that place.

As i got out i felt a gentle breeze graze past me, and a blinding light on the sky. “Has the sun always been this bright ?” I asked myself as i shielded my eyes from its radiance, when i got used to it, i noticed a large forest in front of me and a small village bellow me and what it looked like a mecha reduced to scrap. 

_ It seems that i have been given another chance. _


	2. All Dressed Up with Nowhere to go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yo, sorry if this one is too long, i went a bit overboard with the size on this one, i tried to split up into two chapters but the consitency seemed a bit off imo.

What does Shadow finds worth protecting in this world….What does he think is worth of salvation in this place. They are all a worthless bunch, bound to die one time or another, why bother to keep them out of harm's way, all of that because of some human. When i got into contact with Shadow's shade, besides inheriting his body shape, i earned a few of his memories as bonus, and naturally this human that went by the name of Maria did something to him, that both fueled his revenge and gave him reason to protect them, even when the humans turned against him out of fear of his potential, enduring all these hardships solely because of some human, hogwash.

All sentient beings i have found called me a monster, demon, fiend all of this just because of the involuntary way i was created...I still have faint glimpses behind the veil, who i used to be, nothing specific but i have an idea that i used to be a living being...i think.

The first time i met Shadow, i had no idea how my body worked, i was honestly astonished that i managed to talk, albeit barely, i learned everything about this body during my time in that… scepter, whenever i try to sleep i am haunted by that place. I will never forget the first time i was inside the scepter that oppressing dark, the maddening silence, having no idea why i was there in the first place, being locked away, forever to be forgotten by time. It was the first and only time Solaris ever talked to me, he told me that there was an way to get my revenge upon all of them, all i had to do was fuse with my other half, a brother of sorts, Iblis was its name and recreate Solaris upon this world, the problem is Iblis was locked away as well inside the princess of the kingdom of Soleanna, the only way to break the seal was to make her shed a tear, at first it was a joke.

After that explanation i made my sole duty to make her suffer as much as possible before i fuse with Iblis, if you are to make someone cry you better do it right.

Despite popular belief Iblis wasn't as much of a bad person, but we did shared our mutual hatred of humanity, he himself didn't knew why he hated them so much a gut feeling he called it, the first time i met and talked to him was in the future when he was already free his way of mercy to all wild animals was giving them a swift end. Telling me about how the wildlife used to be and how he wished he didn't had to destroy all lifeforms on the planet, but something that caught my mind was an hedgehog and a cat that somehow survived all the destruction, Iblis was surprised as much as i, he said they were the two survivors that fought against him, time and time again.

My plan was simple tell them i knew an way to 'fix' everything, send them back in time and while Silver keeps that blue hedgehog busy, i search and release Iblis, fuse with him make Solaris and revel as the entire world becomes reduced to a smoking pile of ash and rubble.

There is one phrase that he spoke that i will never understand "As much i hate humans i can give them this, their kind can be surprising at times" what was the meaning of that...

Do not worry my kin, as soon as i get to Soleanna i will find where you are being kept... Speaking of which where am i exactly, this is some kind of village i think… but why would a village have a scrapped robot ? They don't seem to need it, there are no factories around here only that mineshaft, why was i inside a mineshaft of all places ? I do not record Soleanna having a village with a mineshaft.

I flew up looking for anything familiar, so far is saw nothing but clouds birds flying and mountains in the distance...but nothing of Soleanna, odd. That village must have a map or anything to give me an idea of where am i ? I flew down into the nearby woods and spied on the village. Its inhabitants were mostly busy so they shouldn't notice me among them.

Entering a nearby library, i conveniently found a map on a wall, a place was marked 'Felsmawers' this must be the name of this village, now then to find Solea...What ?.

Scanning the map top to bottom, left to right, all of its nooks and crannies, no Soleanna, only some more useless towns...This must be a faulty map it must be "Do you need any help sir ?" I looked to my right and saw an elderly goat with glasses i looked at her for a second and after a few seconds of silence replied "...Is this map up to date ?".

She nodded and replied "Yes sir, we just got it a few months ago, not much has changed as far as i know" She laughed a little and asked me "Sorry if i'm being too nosy but why do you ask ?".

"I am looking for a place called Soleanna, it is not present in this map" She scratched her chin and began thinking for a while before replying "I'm sorry sir i'm afraid i don't know anything of this Soleanna". This old hag must be senile, Soleanna does exist…"What happened in that mineshaft ?" The frown on her face revealed that it wasn't something good, perhaps these news could lift my spirits "I heard that the Eggman collapsed it for some reason". That fatman ? Why would he collapse a mineshaft for no reason ?

My thoughts were interrupted by her asking me another question "I couldn't notice your lack of mouth sir"Damn it, she got too close, she knows i am not an organic like her, she is going to panic and run around calling me monster or demon, and soon enough the word about a mouthless monster will spread like wildfire, ruining my plans, she must be dealt with swiftly...But she said something else "Do you happen to be a moth sir? One of your kind just passed by here not too long ago"

...A...Moth ? That's certainly better than being called a monster at least, i simply nodded and replied "...indeed i am a moth, now if you excuse me i must be on my way" Before i could get out of there she asked "Before you go sir, would like a like a cup of tea ?" Why would she be offering me this tea to a complete stranger, what is her reason, why is she doing this, is it a trap ? What is this tea ?

"...Erm... i'm afraid i can't, i must be on my way" As i walked out of there, she greeted me goodbye and i left the town, weird lady…

Where can i find a better map...Perhaps Shadow's memories can give me some insight about it.

I sat down and began to focus on all of Shadow's memories, going past the space colony, that human i found something interesting an agency called G.U.N they should have the most accurate intel on where Soleanna is, and if i'm lucky who is the Iblis trigger. According to Shadow there is a base nearby in the north, not far from here.

And so i began to make my way towards that base, the forest should be my best bet to remain unseen, i don't want Shadow to know that i am back, not for now at least. The forest was dense, a few rays of sunlight shined from the foliage and trees, but there is more than enough shade for me to remain unseen, the smell of mud and grass filled the place, but a faint smell of smoke was in the distance. That smell brought me to a clearing in the forest. A cloud of smoke was coming out of a hovercraft, and a fat man in a red coat crouched beside it fixing it, he must have crash landed here.

I can barely remember who that man was, but something else grabbed my attention. A glass capsule containing two emeralds, comfortably sitting on top of each other, must be my lucky day, these miracle stones are always good to have around.

As i walked out of the shadows from the trees, i accidently stepped on a twig, he turned around, the second he looked at me he asked "Shadow is that you ?" i laughed lightly and replied "A common mistake, but a mistake nonetheless" He took in a closer looked and added "You are not Shadow, what are you an android ?" He asked as he reached over behind him, trying to grab something none of his little toys could ever hope to hurt me and so i just replied "Who am i ? Well i can't blame you we never were properly introduced face to face, you ran away the second i was released. My name is Mephiles the Dark" I walked over to the capsule, raising my fist, breaking the glass, before i could look at him i heard the sound of a gunfire.

A laser flew towards me, he expected the bullet to hit me and watch me bleed out in that forest, but to his displeasure the laser simply went past me. His evil grim quickly became a look of fear, i took the emeralds, cocked my head and replied "Under normal circumstances, i would have ripped you to shreds, but lowly beings like you are not worthy of my time, so i will just leave my friends to do away with you" My shadows sprouted from the ground, out of every shade and dark corner of that forest, In a terrified tone he begged "W-Wait can't we work something out".

I halted my shadows, perhaps he could have some be of use to me "Tell me the truth and your life will be spared for the time being" He nodded and replied "Absolutely what would you like to know ?" without hesitation i asked "Where is the Iblis Trigger ?"

He stayed silent for a few seconds, and nervously answered me "Come again, i don't know what you are talkin-".

"Soleanna, princess Elise, ringing any bells ?" I allowed my shadows get a bit closer to him, the man scrambled a bit and replied.

"I-I Am telling you i don't know this Soleanna" He lifted both of his hands up slightly, why should i trust a word that he is saying, the fool is trying to keep me away from Iblis. My shadows got closer to him, he was visibly afraid.

"My patience is running short doctor, you are in no position to lie to me. Now where is Soleanna ?". He letted out a desperate yelp and nervously answered.

"I don't know a thing about this Soleanna, n-now please let me go"

"You still have the audacity to spit out lies when facing your own doom" I glanced at the two emeralds i recently have acquired and added "But since you just handed me two Emeralds...I will give you a gift" I lifted my hands up slightly, after a short time a small black bubble, with a purple eye formed. The being felt down unto my palm and crawled down from it until reaching the ground, and began to crawl towards Eggman, eventually reaching his own shade and disappearing in it "Wh-what is that thing and where did it go ?" The doctor asked looking for the small being.

"Do not worry, if you do as i say, it shall be of no harm to you" The doctor nervously gulped and asked "Do what exactly ?".

"If you tell a single person of what happened in this clearing or that i am back, my little friend shall be your undoing. And don't think you can get rid of him, he can be quite persistent and thank you for the welcoming gift mortal" And with that i leaved the place, leaving only dark mist behind. The man still couldn't avert his gaze from his own shadow.

* * *

Shadow's POV

This job has its ups and down, pushing around other government enforcements feels good, the pay is nice as well as the other benefits of being affiliated with a government agency, the single worst downside is all that paperwork.

If you ask me i am more of a pencil pusher with a license to beat the lights off a man, than an agent. Most of it was only busy work like small cases, my team is mostly called to do some kind of investigation that was beyond the understanding of policemen, terrorists or when Eggman was on the search for the chaos emeralds.

As i was finishing off a sizeable pile of papers, the phone in my office began to rang. I finished filling off the last lines, and answered the call. Please don't be more papers.

"Shadow, i need you and your team in my office as soon as possible" I nodded and answered him "Understood sir". I walked out of my office, and took the elevator to Rouge's office on the 12th floor, third left at the end of the corridor.

Muffled jazz could be heard from inside the office, and as soon as opened the door, her ears perked up behind the pile of papers out of instinct, she lifted her head up and asked "Fancy meeting you here Shadsy, come here often ?" Even that echidna could pick up on that sarcasm "Commander is calling for our team, any idea where Omega could be ?".

"Jeez you're no fun, but hey i was hoping for an excuse to stop with all this paperwork. He should be at the storage along with all the other robots , i'll meet up with you at his floor" She stood up from her seat and stretched herself a bit before making her way to his floor, while i went down to the storage.

Once i arrived in the bottom floor i walked past the security door and entered the dim light storage. Piles of crates stacked high, security cameras and turrets in the ceiling to keep this place safe and sound. Omega was tucked in a corner, in standby mode charging up.

Even if his battery was durable he still needed to refill it from time to time, when i was in view of him his eyes turned on, usually he needed a command word to be turned on, but after working so much with me and Rouge he picked up on our specific details so that we didn't had to use the word as much as usual.

"The commander is calling for our team in the top floor" He nodded and began walking to the stairs, he was too heavy to use the elevator, how did Rouge managed to lift both me and him at the same time is beyond me.

When we all entered his office the commander invited me and rouge to a seat while Omega stood up. "Agent Shadow, Agent Rouge. I'll spare you the chit chat and get straight to business" He pressed a button on his desk, the monitor behind him turned on and after loading it displayed a map with a red marking on a spot.

"Your team is to head to the mining village Felsmawers, yesterday an attack into the mining site, caused by Robotnik AKA Eggman caused a collapse. Get there and investigate why he was there, make sure to keep us up to date on the if you find out anything. Questions ?"

My hunch tells me that he is after the chaos emeralds.

I just nodded and stood up from my seat replied "Understood sir, we'll head there right away" Rouge followed and headed down to the exit. That village is not far from here.

When we got out to the exit i was surprise to see the sun was stood high in the sky to set, at least i won't spend my day with all that paper. We began to make our way there as a line of cargo trucks ran past us.

* * *

Mephiles POV

Infiltrating this place was easier than i thought, all thanks to a convoy of trucks in a perfect line heading towards the base

The truck came to an abrupt stop on a dimly lit place. I poked my head out from underneath it, a man stepped out and began chatting with another person, after that boxes began to be placed on the floor. Making use of the comotion is snuck out underneath the truck and hid among the dark corners of the room, and waited until all of them left the room.

Once it all of that was cleared up, i snuck onto the hallways only then i realized something...Shadow's memories were a bit foggy to where this place could be. Not amusing, considering all the time wasted writing in some papers, perhaps it is on the upper floors.

I would take the elevator but i fear that it may draw too much attention to me. The stairs were poorly lit so i don't think i need to sneak around, my natural color should provide enough camouflage, as long as no one gets too close. I began to climb the stairs for what seemed to be for hours, yes i could have just flew but i don't want to take risks.

I stopped on the eleventh floor, opening the door and peeking through it, i was instantly met with people talking behind computer screens, this must be an office floor, i can't see the archives from where i stand. A cart filled with papers proved itself to be a fitting hiding spot, i followed it from underneath around the floor the only thing, nothing but computers and nothing of archives.

I couldn't help but eavesdrop on the nearby conversation, the topics varied wildly from sports, their lives, flirts but something worth noting amidst all of that was someone saying that Shadow and his team went off to another mission. I assume to the place i once was.

And so i repeated the process for two more floors, entering, sneaking eavesdropping so on and so forth, until i finally found it the archives, down a shady corridor. The door had no knobs only a small monitor with a glass big enough for one to put it's thumb.

I placed my finger on it and after a few seconds the panel lit up, and the following message appeared on the screen 'Access Denied' I placed my thumb against the glass once again and the same message appeared. I have Shadow's body, this machine should recognize that i am him, there doesn't seem to be a lock that i can cut through, the door is sealed tight, there is no way i can enter this place.

I heard some footsteps coming towards my way, i turned my head around and saw a, female sheep with glasses walking towards me with some papers under her arm. I thought that i would have to end her, disposing of her in this place could put me in danger, too many eyes to see it, i feared that she would panic, scream and jeopardize my cover but instead she smiled, raised her hand and greeted me.

"Hey Shadow!"Why doe she thinks i am Shadow...Oh yeah i keep forgetting this form is so far my default shape these humans keep amusing me with their foolishness, i just need to play along and she will pay me no mind.

When she got closer she looked at the device near the door and asked "Huh the lock is acting up again ?"

"...It looks like" I answered from the shady part of the corridor, she walked closer to the scanner and asked "Let me try it" I moved out of the way and she pressed her thumb against the glass, after a few seconds of silence. The steel door slid open, revealing a blue lit room, various file cabinets stacked, and a large computer on the back.

The sheep walked in, and i entered after. I began to make my way towards the computer, she stopped by one of the cabinets and asked me "So Shadow, are you done with those reports ?"

"Uh...Not yet i came here to check on something" I answered looking at the computer "What's wrong with your voice though ?" I stopped dead in my tracks "I...just have a cold" I answered her codly and then made up some coughing sounds.

"...Huh pretty weird to catch a cold this season ?" Is she onto me ? No... she is just suspecting my voice "Yeah…" I turned the computer on and began typing, i didn't noticed she walked towards me and asked "So… I was thinking, would you like to… have a coffee with me later ? After work of course" She should have the cold too, her face seemed to be red. Why would she ask me to have this thing with her ? What is it tough ? Some kind of ritual ? She doesn't know who i am, she does recognize my shape. The idea of throwing a small wrench on Shadow's workplace it is tempting, just imagining all the chaos i could toss upon him is entertaining. But i have to be realistic here, someone would catchwind of my tomfoolery, find out that i am a mouthless monster, panic so on and so forth.

She seemed to get nervous by the second with my silence, without looking at her i just replied.

"I have matters to attend to"

"Oh...OK, no problem…" She answered in a somewhat sad tone, finally staying quiet for a few seconds before saying "Well i'll be going now, lot of work to do you know"

I simply nodded and replied "Indeed" She walked out of the room, mumbling to herself 'stupid' over and over, allowing me to work without a prying eye.

Fortunately the computer didn't had a password, making my search that much easier. That computer gave me insight into this world, some things seemly had changed since i was around. But no matter how many files i searched i couldn't find nothing about Soleanna, Iblis or Elise.

There it has to be a mistake Soleanna does exists… Maybe i am in a different place, if i am does that mean...Iblis is. No Iblis does exists i will find him no matter what. Coming here was a waste of time i accomplished nothing here.  
I turned away from the computer and began to walk away my mind was so deep i thought that i didn't noticed that same sheep from earlier walk in. "Sorry i forgot to file these papers i'll just-" She bumped into me, i didn't had time to notice nor react to it, i stood there frozen by the surprise, she let out a small yelp.

"Stay calm, i can expl-" before i could end my sentence, she screamed "S-Spy, security help !" I can't get rid of her here, too many cameras and guards.  
I grabbed her arms and began to shake her "S-Stay calm i'm a...new recruit" I kept repeating that i am a recruit until she stopped screaming and said to herself.

"...Recruit…?" When she seemed to calm down i letted go of her, she placed a finger on her chin "My boss did told me we were expecting some new recruits here" I nodded in confirmation "Yeah...I just dropped by here because i was ordered to".

"Makes sense...wait a minute" She pointed a finger at me "Why did you said you were Shadow when i met you ?".  
"Erm i...got nervous, i just went along with it" I replied as i held my hands up. She took a step closer towards me.

"You really look like Shadow, what are you ? His brother or something ?" She replied as she kept staring at my face "I have no relations with Shadow whatsoever".

"Ok then…" She still kept looking at my mouth or lack thereof.  
"...Will you stop staring me ?" I somehow managed to shake her off her trance she looked up at me and replied.

"Sorry, i am just a bit weirded out by your...umm" I rubbed my temples and completed the sentence.

"Face..." She fiddled with her fingers and nervously replied.  
"Y-Yeah...Sorry" She held her hand out, asking for a handshake and said "I haven't introduced myself, i'm Abbey" I looked at her hand for a few seconds before, replying to the handshake. Her hand was oddly soft, i never got to shake hands with someone before, most hands are usually pointing at me or trying to punch me "My name is Me-" No i can't say my real name "M-Melvin".  
 _Melvin...really… Better safe than sorry i guess_.

If i want my presence here to remain a secrecy i have to give a reasonable and convincible explanation for my mouth, what in the world could cause a being to not have a mouth...Shadow is a hedgehog isn't he ? What could cause a hedgehog to not have a mouth, the reason i don't have a mouth is mostly because i have no need for food...now that i think about that i am not even sure if i have the sense of taste...or smell even. But since she didn't ran away, perhaps i can get some info out of her.

"I am new to this city and i was wondering if you could help me with something".

"Oh, sure" She responded looking at me.  
"I am looking for a place known as Soleanna, do you know where it is ?" She looked at me with a confused look and asked.  
"Sorry but i never heard of this place ?" This again… We stood there in a silence, this can't be real, Soleanna has to be real. I took a deep breath and turned asked once again "Do you know a person by the name of Princess Elise ?". She shook her head, the girl may have took notice of the look in my face, she patted my shoulder and added "Cheer up, they have to be somewhere".  
That phrase repeated itself in my head until i remembered something. The chaos emeralds give powers to thoughts. "Wise words, now i will take my leave, thank you for your assistance". She waved me and said "No problem, see you around".


	3. Imposter among the mist

Narrator POV

"What did you get so far ?" Shadow asked as he walked over to Rouge, she shrugged and answered "According to the locals Eggman showed up here and stole an gem from a mineshaft, big blue showed up, they fought and Eggsy caused the mineshaft to collapse to cover up his escape, there were no casualties save for a few bruises here and there. Probably a chaos emerald, nothing out of the ordinary"  
Shadow silently nodded and asked "It seems that this happened fairly recently".

Rouge looked around the village and confirmed, Shadow shifted his glance to the mineshaft and said "I'll take a look at the mineshaft, in the meantime look for any leads on the doctor, he shouldn't be too far" Shadow dashed off towards the ruins, Rouge signed and told Omega "You heard him tinman, we have work to do".

Arriving at the entrance he was already met with a problem, a pile of rubble blocking the entrance there were signs of a fight here and there, but around some rubble he noticed a hole.

Jumping inside the dead silent maze of stones, he saw more scorch marks, rubble and scraps of metal. 'Eggman's machine must have been struck, he shouldn't be too far' Shadow thought to himself, but not too far from the scrap lied a shards of purple glass, light reflected off of it in a odd way, and the shard seemed to be moist by some kind of thick substance, comparable to tar or crude oil.  
He kept staring at the shard, even looking at it was enough to give one a weird feeling, nothing else was worth taking note, but perhaps the scientist at G.U.N could take a look at this weird fragment, he stored the shard among his quills, next time they dropped by any G.U.N facility he would ask for the science team to have a look at it.

When he made his way out of he was greeted by the hum on his wrist communicator wielding a new message. Eggman's location had been discovered.

"Just my luck" The doctor grumbled to himself as his tended to his machine, he leaned down into his hovercraft and pulled out a metallic disc, he pressed the button and an image of a small red round robot was displayed.  
"Orbot, send me my spare hovercraft and two repair egg pawns to my location now" The robot nodded and replied "Yes sir, they should be there in twenty to thirty minutes".

"Make it ten and i won't make you into a drink coaster" The robot vigorously nodded and replied "Y-Yes sir. I have some good news sire, your new invention has located a new possible location of a chaos emerald, i am sending you the location right now"

"Good, make sure to send Metal Sonic" The robot once again nodded and turned off communications, and the man went back to work

"EGGMAN MACHINES DETECTED IN THE VICINITY" The doctor stood up in a snap as the robotic voice sounded through the woods along with a the sound of someone speeding in his direction. He recognized that voice an old creation of his, the last remnant of the e-series. The sound kept getting louder and louder, he hurried his work on repair on the machine,he was almost done just a few more screws and.

"Fancy meet you here doc" He tensed up the moment he heard that smooth voice, he slowly turned around to meet the jewel thief, the last of the e-series and the ultimate lifeform.

"Hand over the Chaos Emeralds doctor" Shadow demanded as he extended his hand.

"Sorry to burst your bubble but i don't have them anymore" Shadow took a step closer and said "I know you are lying, hand it over and i'll let you go"

"Look i don't have them, some guy that looks like" before the doctor could finish his sentence, right beneath his feet, that being Mephiles gave him popped up from his shadow and stared at him with a razor sharp grim.

"S-Sonic took them from me" He simply answered, Rouge lifted a brow and Shadow took a step forward "You expect me to believe that ?"

"I am telling you the truth, if i had them i would be far from here now would i ?" Eggman answered as he regained his composure and looked at Shadow. Rouge approached Eggman and asked "Funny you should say that doc, i just had a word with the folks back at that nice little village, and they said that you got away while Sonic was busy cleaning up your mess. Care to explain ?"

"...Erm...Y-You know how fast the blue rat is fight"He answered backing away slightly, to which they answered by stepping closer "What are you trying to cover up ?".

The man was backed into a corner, nowhere to run, no way to fight, his mind raced through possibilities of getting out of his current situation. Option A, tell the truth and risk being ripped to shreds by that little thing, Option B, see how long he can keep up with his lies until help arrives or Option C...Beg for mercy. He went for his best option, B.

"...W-Why would i lie to you Shadow ?"

"You would lie for a pencil, now i want answers doctor " He prepared a chaos spear, solely for intimidation, which it worked.

"L-Let's be rational here, o-ok" He began to back away from them, looking down at his own shade, the dark being kept staring at him, waiting for the second he would spill the beans about the look-a-like. "We don't have all day doc, and Omega here is starting to loose his calm".  
The second Rouge finished the sentence, the walking arsenal began to rev up a machine gun. The man's mind kept racing through anything that could get him out of that situation, but to his luck, the cavalry arrived. Looking to his right he saw his masterpiece of a robot.

Eggman lifted both of his arms skyward and said "Looks like my time here is up" Shadow and Rouge lifted a brow, and in a flash Metal Sonic grabbed his creator's arms taking him out of there.

Omega began to fire in the general direction the robot went off to, "It's no use Omega, he got away" Omega reluctantly lowered his guns, Shadow scorned a bit but noticed the shattered glass of a chaos emerald container.  
"He was telling the truth after all, but i don't think the faker took the emeralds" He said as he glanced at the broken shards of glass, Rouge said "Well, no use standing here, let's go look for the other Emeralds".  
Shadow nodded and the team speeded off.

* * *

"Since no one knows nothing of Soleanna or the iblis trigger, i will need to break the seal through different means" Mephiles said as he glanced at the emerald in his hand, "The power of the chaos emeralds should be more than enough to free him from his vessel" He raised the emerald and said "Now, show me the way to the other emeralds"

The humming of the emerald grew stronger in a direction towards the south, after a while of following the direction he was met with grey skies and a small city near the beach, covered in a outlandishly dense fog, the streets were fairly empty, therefore the odds of finding someone that could recognize him were low. He scouted the city high and low but with no luck in finding the emerald, the insides of the house were mostly inhabited by families, some enjoying meals with each other or other things of the kind.  
Venturing down to the foggy docks, the glow began to get stronger the closer he got to the sea, but there was problem. A mist so dense one could barely see a palm of distance, rendering the emerald's glow useless, the object of his search had to be among the fog.

Traversing through the fog proved itself to be a… impossible task, it is hard to find a relatively small gem shining among such a heavy fog. He wandered aimlessly for hours among the fog, until he found his way back to the wooden planks of the dock.  
 _Such a trivial task won't stop me, the emerald has to be within this fog. I am god, i can certainly find this emerald.  
_ And so he returned to the fog, and wandered around and around and around that white maze, not finding a thing, not even a glow, such a white nothingness, reminded him of his former prison, at the very least he had another chance to right his wrongs, how he failed his sole duty and how he failed his other half.

But alas, his search left him empty handed and so he returned back to the docks after collecting himself, he noticed a few boats along the dock, most of them were intended for fishing, one could catch the whiff of fish from within. A single boat standed out from the rest.  
A boat with a large crate, covered by a thick green fabric, the ship itself had a dull green, corroded a bit by the sea salt, and a unreadable graving on its side that was eaten away by rusting. Mephiles placed his hands on his chin and began to think about ways to get the emerald, most of his ideas were rendered useless due to such a thick fog.  
"What a weather we're having eh ?" Mephiles snapped his head to the right to meet an aged mobian dog, standing beside him, gazing into the fog and the boat. Mephiles tensed up, had the man seen his lack of features ? He had to put his luck on the fog, his existence can't be discovered at the moment, the very second Sonic or Shadow learn of his survival they will hunt him down and imprison him again.  
"...Indeed" Mephiles simply agreed with the man standing beside him, making sure not to face him, he could barely get a good look on his face among the fog.  
"Sorry to ask stranger, but what brings you to this place ?" The old dog asked trying to have a look at the sea.

Again, without facing the man he answered "I am searching for a certain object, but i can barely see a thing amidst this fog". The dog nodded and replied "Yeah, this fog has been here for three weeks so far".

_Three weeks of this constant fog ? I am no weather expert but i do know that such a mist isn't suppose to stay this long._

"I don't suppose fogs are to be this long a stay" Mephiles asked the man, to which he nodded and replied "They aren't and to make things better a lot of ships have been setting sail but end up being sunken, a lot of good people were lost…" The last part was said with a mixture of a sorrow and anger.  
"How troublesome…" Both of them stayed silent for a few minutes, but the man averted his gaze towards Mephiles, looking at him up and down, Mephiles sneakily readied a crystal blade prepared for the worst case scenario, and once again instead of screams he heard a question.

"Say stranger...you look like the type of fellow that can handle a fight" Mephiles curiously asked "...I suppose you can say that, why do you ask me such a question ?"

"Call me crazy, but i have a hunch that something is sinking those ships out there in the fog, i can't go in there on my own." Mephiles lifted a brow and asked "What are your intentions ?".  
The man replied "Simple my lad, to get all this fog out of the way, the best bet is to fix up the ol lighthouse, you help me get to the lighthouse safely and with the fog out of the way you can find that thing you are looking for, no questions asked." after finishing the sentence he held out his hand and turned to face him.  
"How do you expect to find your way to such a place, in the current situation ?". The man smirked and answered "Simple, the lamp on my boat should be enough to guide our way there".

Mephiles considered his options, traversing through the fog seemed to be a difficult if not impossible task, but this mortal should have enough use for him to acquire the emerald, if the man began to grow the slightest suspicion of him, the depths of the ocean can be a good resting place for him.  
"Very well, i shall lend you my services".


	4. High Tide

Narrator POV

"Darkness...Everything, everyone was swallowed in pitch black sea, i couldn't make out what happened, or even how it did happened. The only thing i saw was a lone figure standing among all that dark, i barely had time to figure out what it was, or who it was before it tried to attack me. I did managed to get away tough, safe and sound, save for a few bruises here and there." After finishing his sentence he took a sip from a mug.  
"Hmm...Are you sure you didn't recognized what it was ?" A yellow fox said as he sat down on a couch, with an open first aid kid by his side, the white hedgehog sitting in front of him shook his head and replied "Sorry, i barely had any time to understand what i was looking at".

Tails nodded and replied "I see, well since you came here there must be a way to stop this from happening right ?" Tails replied as he began to scratch his chin, "Any clues on where to start ?". Silver once again shook his head and answered the question "No idea, you ?".  
Tails stood silent scratching his chin, the only thing that could have any leads would be either the chaos emeralds or Eggman.  
"Well since usually these things are somehow connected to either Eggman and the chaos emeralds, i think it would be the best check out with Sonic he is already on the hunt for the chaos emeralds, try talking to him to get any clues about it, i'll get him on the communicator" He stood up from his seat and made his way into his office, after a few minutes of shuffling his inventions he found a small communication device, akin to a wristwatch, he stood beside the hedgehog holding the watch and pressed a button on the left side.  
After a few seconds of waiting a voice came through a small speaker on the side.  
"Yo Tails, what's up" Sonic's voice came out of the speaker, He sounded a bit tired.  
"Hey Sonic, Silver just dropped by here and wants to have a word with you" A sound of screeching could be heard coming from the speaker, Sonic replied. "Sure, whaddup Silver".

"Sonic where are you ?" Silver stepped closer to the watch and asked. The blue hedgehog look around his surroundings and answered "Around windmill village, why ?"

"I need to talk to you, i'll be there in a few". Sonic shrugged and answered "Alright, don't take too long". Silver rushed through the door, Tails stood up and rushed to his garage, and grabbed some of his gadgets before, following him "Wait up"

* * *

Mephiles POV

I am still boggled to how have i ended up in that place, last time i recall i was in Soleanna, why that mine of all places. How have i survived that ordeal, all of the hedgehogs were empowered by the emeralds, such wondrous powers, tightly packed gems, their power should break Iblis's seal without a hint of trouble, the last thing i can remember was an explosion, but that doesn't add up to how i survived, how i got there how i got imprisoned, my scepter was nowhere in sight, i made sure of it.

It has almost been an hour since we left the docs, that old man said he knew how to get to that lighthouse. Although i can barely see it the emerald hasn't lost its shine yet, the third one has to be nearby, too bad this mist had to be in the way. This situation is somewhat calming, the humming of the boat and sea breeze from the ocean, can turn this misty maze into a somewhat soothing place, it is a pity that this place will inevitably be destroyed when Solaris is rebuilt. Despite all this, i can't help but feel being watched, perhaps that old fool is right, we may not be alone here.  
"We should be there in around twenty minutes stranger" I heard the old dog tell me as he walked closer to me, even if he upholds his end of the deal i will have to silence him.  
"Tell me, what makes you think something could be lurking beneath ?" I asked the man as i kept staring at the sea.  
"I've sailed these waters for years stranger, i know em like the back of my hand, and never were they this dangerous to travel, something has to be sinking them, im sure of it " After that small explanation, we both went back to the silence, both of us staring off into that mist...until that oldman broke the silence with a question.  
"Stranger, since we're travelling together we should at least know each other's names ?" At the very least i have a better name in mind besides Melvin.  
"You first", he laughed a bit and said "Fair enough, im Carter" He held his hand out again asking for a handshake. I stared at it for a few seconds and replied "My name is-" The ship shook wildly back and forth, almost as if we had been struck by something, the old man almost fell down, we both look left and right, searching for the attacker.  
It was then that we saw a metallic behemoth, surface from the water, a robot slightly rusted from the sea but still functional, resembling a giant metal squid, with a few holes among its body that kept spewing that white fog, and on its head a logo of a grinning man with a mustache, so all i need to do is put an end this thing and that emerald is as good as mine. The old dog recovered himself and began to laugh.  
"I was right…" He whispered to himself, before yelling out loud with a mad cackle "Twas the storm they said, twas a shipwreck they said, some random sea accident, said those dimwitted morons. You're gonna pay for what you did to my boy Isaac. You know what to do stranger."  
The fog was still present, i could turn into my crystal form and be done with this thing without much effort, but the old man will inevitably raise a brow to my...looks, it is a pity that i have to fight this beat in my limited self, i won't be at any peril, the only thing this beast could take away from me is time.  
The metallic beast began to wheeze, releasing more fog onto the air, masking itself on the mist, but i could see some movement lifting up one of its tendrils, prepared to crash it down upon this vessel.

My eyes darted around the thing, looking for any sort of weak spot, i cannot use too big of a shade, the old man may have gone off the deep end, but he can still be suspicious. So far i have two options on how to begone with this mech, try to fight like a hedgehog even though i have little idea on how, it won't raise any suspicion on the old man, or have my way with the shades even if i made myself another set of eyes on Eggman i still have enough, i shall use the latter.

The only problem is, i can't think of any way to keep this vessel afloat, if that monstrosity even glances this thing the wrong way, it will all sink like, my deal with the old man, the emerald, Iblis, everything. Perhaps a handful of shades inside the gaps on it's armor could do the trick.

The tendril came down and a few of my shades went up, slipping inside the gaps in the rusty metallic plating, the old man braced for impact, supporting himself upon the rail.

The tendril came to a halt, sounds of sparks and fouled wiring could be coming from within it, and after a minute or two, down came each of its tendrils, one after the other, with the one upon us merely glancing by the ship without much force, followed by the whole thing sinking to the depths of the ocean.

Carter looked at me in disbelief, after letting it all sink in, he began to laugh quietly after which evolved into a relief laughter, he took a deep breath and whispered to himself "Rest easy my boy".  
He bowed his head and laid there silent. Surprisingly i can feel something, i can't tell what it is, but i can't help but feel like… I have seen this before, all coming from what i pieced together from his tale.  
The fog seemed to clear up a bit, the old man looked at the sky and said "We'll be in the lighthouse in no time stranger" I nodded and watched as he headed back to the steering wheel.

And so after some minutes, we have arrived at the lighthouse, we walked out and went our separate ways, he up the stairs and i around the island looking for the emerald, after some more minutes a strong light lit up, doing away with all the mist, giving me a clear vision. I began to wander around that island, the glow of the emerald kept growing stronger and stronger until i looked to the sea and saw the same shine, dancing on a gentle rhythm among the waves my prize, after flying to its location and returning to the shore i heard the old man's voice.

"Finally that pesky fog is over eh stranger" He walked beside me and stared off into the sea, i did the same thing "So...have you found the thing you were looking for ?" I just nodded, he chuckled lightly.  
"Good to hear, was it hard to fight that beast ?" He asked, time to tread lightly, i just nodded and answered "Not at all, just had to exploit a gap in its armor, why ?" Be mindful of your words, for they may be the last.  
"Well, it ain't everyday that someone takes down something that big" the silence was so tense in the air, one could cut it with a knife, did he found out ? Before i could prepare a crystal blade to end him he said.  
"But i won't question, i'm just glad that thing won't cause anymore trouble... It's about time we leave this place, i'll give you a ride" He turned around and walked back to his boat.  
I shall give him the benefit of a doubt, but better safe than sorry and so i made another set of eyes, ears and teeth to keep an eye on the old man.


	5. A Familiar Face

Windmill Village was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone, a kind of place families and elderly enjoyed peaceful days and a tight community. The blue blur was leaned against a tree, tapping its foot as he awaited for the arrival of his friend, at the very least he had something to eat while he waited, a baker gave him a free croissant as a thank you for saving his grandpa during one of Eggman's attacks, if he didn't had a task at hand he would enjoy taking a nap under right there, under that comfy shade and soft grass but duty calls, to his left he saw two figures figure approaching.  
"Sonic, we need to talk" The white hedgehog said as he stopped and landed , Sonic finished his croissant and replied "Sure thing, why the rush though ? Is the future in danger again ?" Silver nodded.  
"So, what happened this time around ?" Silver than told him what he saw, even showed him the scratches as proof, Sonic listened to his very word and then asked "Are you sure you didn't saw anything that pointed at Egghead ? Metal Sonic, any kind of egg pawn or anything ?" Silver shook his head and answered "I only saw one thing standing there"  
"Strange, but hey at least i got one chaos emerald from here" Sonic threw a smug smile as he tossed the emerald up in the air and then catching it "Easy picking. One down five to go".  
"Finally something to smile about, so where's the next one ?" Silver asked with a confident smile, Tails pulled up his gadget and said "Right to the chase huh, it should be somewhere in Frozen peak, if my readings are right, which they are" The fox said as he stared into one of his devices.  
"Race ya there" Sonic zoomed off "Hey, no fair" Tails said as he tried to catch up, with Silver right behind.

* * *

"HQ do you read ?" The sheep on the other side of the line got startled by the sudden call, spilling some coffee from her table, she grabbed her communication headset "Y-Yeah, agent Shadow, how is your mission going ?".  
"We managed to find Doctor Eggman but he got away, he didn't had any emeralds, the container that kept them was shattered, someone stole them". The sheep listened to each of his words, typing them on a report after a moment of silence she said "Understood, do you know who could have possibly took them ?".

"The doctor claims it was Sonic but it couldn't have been him. Do you have the location on the other emeralds ?".  
"One moment" She got up from the chair, and made her way towards another computer "We have possible locations, i'll send them to you, but the one closest to your current location is on a place called Wild Canyon"  
A map, showed up on the screen of the communication device "Good, i'll deliver an object that i want the science department to have a look on"  
"Sure thing, i'll give them a heads up"

"Agent Shadow out" And with that the device was closed "So, what did you got ?" Rouge placed a hand on her hip as she sat up from a rock she was sitting upon "You and Omega head towards Wild Canyon for the next emerald, for me i'll head to G.U.N"  
"What for ?" The Rouge asked, Shadow prepared himself to dash off "I just want to ask them some questions" Shadow zoomed off towards the base, Rouge signed and just walked past Omega "Let's go big guy" The robot nodded and they headed off to the sands ' _At least it's somewhere i know'_ Rouge thought to herself.

* * *

After a smooth sail, with the sun shining through the fog, the ship had arrived back in town, the anchor sunk down to the sands, the rope tied the ship to the docs. Mephiles and Carter stepped out "This is where we part ways stranger, thank you for the help with that beast, things should return to normal now".

"Indeed" Before Mephiles could leave the old dog asked "May i have your name stranger, gotta tell the folk who dealt with the beast ya know".  
"I rather not give my name, let's just say i am in a position where my existence has to be kept a secret, you may take the glory i care little about it" The old dog lifted a brow stood in silence for a while but then replied "I have no idea what it is about but, i can only wish you good luck with whatever this is about stranger" Mephiles twisted his head out of sheer curiosity.

_Why would he wish luck to me, we don't know each other ? I lend him my services in exchange for a clear coast, a one time deal, we owe each other nothing, then why is he wishing me luck._

After the small mental rant he said to the man "Goodbye" And with that Mephiles was gone, boogled with the man's actions, it all felt so alien...The man waved him goodbye as Mephiles walked through the streets, the citizens began to walk out of their homes to the sun shining on the sky, without a cloud in sight, Mephiles hastened his pace, slowly the streets began to get more and more crowded.  
His eyes darted around looking for a safe escape, away from prying eyes, but on the concrete he noticed the grates that led to the sewers, not the escape he had in mind but it should be enough to get him out of that town. When he dived down into the running 'water' looking up through the holes in the grate he saw people gathering around, finally released from that fog.

The old man's words to him kept floating on his head, it made no sense to him. Walking out to the fresh air of the woods he shook away these thoughts from his head, raised his hands up, allowing the emerald to float in the air, its shine growing stronger to the west, flying to scout ahead, he spotted dunes that seemed to go on for miles, ancient crumbling ruins, craters sprinkled throughout the place and somewhere among all of that, his prize.

* * *

The hallways of the science department were always kept clean, what one could expect for anyone working on such a field, Shadow's footsteps echoed through the clean light teal halls, he opened the the second door at the end of the hallway, sitting on a table reading papers was a Thomas an elk, taller than Shadow, really easy to talk to, around his forties, when he noticed Shadow he placed his papers down and got up "Hello Shadow, what brings you here ?".

Shadow pulled out the shard he had found in the mines and handed it to him "I want you to take a look at this". Thomas held up the shard and noticed how oddly the light reflected off of that weird liquid.  
"Well since you came here for an analysis, i guess i should take a look at it, come on" He sat up and walked over to another table with a microscope "Word around the office is that there is a new recruit that looks just like you, black fur, shoes scept for your red details" Thomas said placing the shard under the lens and proceeded to look at it, zooming in and out.  
"Weird" Shadow added.  
Thomas laughed "Guess your style is becoming a fashion trend friend." He then began to look at the shard closely.

"I can confirm you one thing thing, this isn't glass, hell it doesn't look like any compound i know off". He then scooped out some of the liquid from the glass and placed the same under the microscope, setting the shard aside.

"This thing here has a consistency similar do molasses, but it is as much of a mystery as that shard, even it's molecular structure doesn't make much sense either. I'll run it through some tests to find out what am i looking at here. Where did you found this stuff anyway ?" The man said as he turned to face Shadow.  
"Shattered on a mineshaft on Felsmawers village" Thomas lifted a brow, Shadow grunted and replied "It doesn't make much sense to me either" Shadow began to walk to the door and said "Is there anything else ?".  
"I can see some other kind element floating around this thing, looks like it doesn't seem to be doing anything at all. I don't think Eggman could have made this thing" The man stood up from the seat and said "The tessts on this thing, it may take some time".

Shadow nodded "If you find out anything import about it send it to me via the communicator"  
"Sure, good luck out there"

* * *

When he arrived at the desert, the sky had already taken an orange tint, the scorching sand began to cool down to the point of not burning one's foot, and the cold slowly began to set in , along with the wind carrying grains of sand.  
Despite the weather, the view wasn't something bad to look at, it could be even somewhat soothing, but in the distance, a tall structure stood, crumbling slightly but still standing tall, and naturally the shine of the emerald grew stronger towards the entrance.  
Torches lit up the chamber, murals depicting ancient rituals forgotten by time, vases and urns, altars were scattered about, each of the vases contained what looked to be incenses or ashes, scrolls, small statues, the body of a mobian fennec.  
Mephiles stepped closer to the bruised and beaten body, he couldn't tell if it was dead or alive, to her side there was a brown duffel bag, equally beaten up, inside he found, a flashlight, two pairs of batteries, a lighter, two pens, a camera and a notebook with a series of notes, and scrap pictures of places, and torn pages of books.  
Mephiles glanced down the corridor the body was close to, not a single light lit up, only pitch black darkness. He backed way to the body and looked the flashlight, it's not like she will have much use of it anyway.  
When his hand began to reach for it, the fennec gasped loudly and shot back up, she placed her hand on her heart and looked around "W-Where am i ? Who are you and what are you doing here ?" Mephiles stood silent for a second out of surprise and spoked up.

"I have found you here by pure chance, and i was wondering if you were okay" Mephiles explained as he stood up and placed his hands behind his back. She looked at him and tilted her head, she was big creeped out by him, but opted to ignore it, thinking of it as something weird kind of fur growth problem she saw among some of her kind. She reached over to her bag a looked inside it, her calm search quickly escalated to a frantic search, turning the bag almost inside out.  
"Oh no no no no no" She groaned as she tossed the bag on the floor "I can't believe it" She began to stomp her foot while cursing into the air. The idea of ending her and stealing the flashlight was tempting, but curiosity had the best of him.  
"Get a hold of yourself, tell me why are you here ?" She took a deep breath and explained.  
"I have been studying these crypt for a while now, today i went deeper in this place, i made some interesting discoveries, but when i was going back to the entrance some men knocked me out, and stole a special scroll i found, along with some notes and an unusual gem i recently discovered" Mephiles head twisted to the side and asked her.

"An unusual gem ?" She nodded.  
"It was something i had never seen before, it was just laying there on the floor, it definitely wasn't part of this place. Those damn graverobbers"  
"Hmm… Perhaps we can make a deal you and i, interested ?" Mephiles asked as he stared into the fennec's teal eyes, she scanned him up and down and said.  
"What do you mean ?" Mephiles raised one of his hands and began to gesticulate as he talked.  
"I can do away with those graverobbers, get your possessions back, all i ask in exchange, is that gem you found. What say you ?" When the sentence was finished he held out his hand to seal the deal.  
The fennec placed a hand under her chin, thinking of it thoroughly, he only asked for the gem, he didn't even mentioned what other rarities that could lie on the crypt, losing that unusual gem was a pity but the price seemed fair to her, a gem for ancient uncovered knowledge, and hey he looks like the kind of guy that can deal some graverobbers. She nodded.  
"Fair enough, deal" She shook his hand and asked "By the way my name is Jyalat"  
"Call em Mephist. Where do you think those men could be ?"  
She stared down the dark hallway and pulled out the flashlight, and shined the beacon down the hallway, revealing snuffed out torches and a staircase leading deeper into the place "Around the bottom floor, they shouldn't have gone far, come on" She began to walk down the corridor, her footsteps sounding through those dark halls.

Mephiles was reluctant to step through the dark and follow her, he just stood there in the most lit up part of the room, staring at it. Jyalat turned around, the beacon of light shining on his face, Mephiles closed his eyes from the light and the fennec asked "Are you okay ?" She asked him ,Mephiles regained his composure took a deep breath and walked to her "I am fine, let's go"

The silence was unnerving, the only sound were their footsteps sounding through the hallways, the flashlight glanced past a mural that caught the attention of Mephiles, the mural was a bit faded out but depicted mobian performing some kind of ritual upon the body of a deceased mobian. It captivated him.  
"What are these murals ?" She shined the light at the murals and was kind of glad that he broke the silence.  
"From what i understood so far, it seems to be some kind of burial rite" she pointed out at the mobian placing objects upon a stone coffin "From what i could gather from their engravings, these objects were supposed to guide the departed soul to the afterlife or be objects the person liked and as you can see" She shined the light behind her, revealing stone coffins, there were about one hundred to two hundred coffins.  
"This area is what i like to call the area of the commoners, they have a few things in their coffins, the noble area has a lot of gold, jewels and that sort of stuff rich people like" Mephiles was intrigued, why would this civilization believe that they needed objects to guide their departed souls.  
"Interesting" He always had some curiosity to learning, unconsciously being drawn towards knowledge.  
"We are getting closer to the royalty and nobles floor" They began to make their way down, with him asking about the place and her with some degree of enthusiasm explaining while slightly boasting about her discovery. But another singular mural caught his attention, a detailed painting of some kind divine being, of the like he knew nothing of, it barely even resembled Solaris.  
He shook off the thoughts before his mind could delve deep into thoughts of conspiracy against his creator, and just focused on the current situation. Sounds of stone moving a the clinking of gold and trinkets could be barely heard along with the muffled voices along with light that shyly shined up the stairs.

* * *

An ear was pressed against walls made out of stone, a fist began to lightly tap against it, moving from spot to spot and repeating the process, until the right stone was found, she pulled out a red marker and drew and 'X' on the spot and flew next to a robot kicking peebles out of boredom.  
"Ok big guy, you see that red X that i drew over there" She pointed to the mark she left, the robot looked up and nodded "Good, make a hole over there, big enough for you and me"  
Missiles popped up from the shoulders of the mech and his eyes shined with excitement, as he prepared to step forward and do his job a hand stopped him "No explosions this time around got it, i don't want that place crumbling down while the emerald is still in there"  
Omega let out a disappointed and yet somewhat annoyed boop he walked over and punched a an entrance through the brick wall, dust and stone flew everywhere, clicking could be heard from his hand as his fingers began to pop themselves back in place.  
Rouge tapped his shoulder and walked in "Good one, come on" She looked all around her said "If only i wasn't here on work" Her ears perked up the second she heard the sound of what looked like a struggle, deep down in the crypt.

She beckoned the robot to follow her "Be ready, we'll probably have some company" They began to moving down the stairs, passing by rooms, with tables, stone coffins, embalming tools, vases and urns filled up with something foul smelling.

The kept going down, deeper into the stony rooms, the deeper they got the more intricate the tools, components became. But the struggle seemly ended all of the sudden, Rouge whispered to Omega "Go to a place with better signal and send our current location to Shadow, then get back down here i'll go take a look, if anything bad happens i'll shout"  
The robot nodded, and so the white bat sneakily entered the room, she stood on a balcony, made of stone and supported by pillars, beautifully engraved marble coffins next to her, she hid behind one of the pillars and looked down bellow.

The body of a bear and a raccoon, both mobian both sprawled out on the floor crowbars and flashlights laid next to them, bags brimming full of gold, jewels and all kinds of valuable trinkets spilled over the ground, but the most curious thing was someone else standing there.  
"What in the..." Rouge whispered to herself, squinted her eyes "Shadow ?" She watched as the look-a-like slowly made his way towards one of the bags, shoving his hand inside it and pulling out a chaos emerald, the being watched it's glow and chuckled to himself. The similarities were uncanny, but the most striking difference were the eyes, green tone with black, reptilian like slits, a paler tone to his quills and a lack of mouth.  
Rouge decided to swoop in, steal the emerald from his hands and make it out of there, she folded open her wings and prepared herself, but before she could take flight, a fennec walked in and stood beside him, she didn't looked like the knocked out men, she looked to be the civilian type. She considered a more peaceful approach but she lacked manpower and but the guy just knocked out two armed men on his own without barely any scratches or wounds to his body and she feared she would end up putting the civilian in risk.

But since she was there she may as well eavesdrop on their conversation, she began to move in closer with the idea for cover, as she swiftly stepped out of her cover and into the next pillar, some of the floor gave away, her foot sunk down a small hole, the remains of the floor fell down, making an audible crack.  
The being snapped his head upward, Rouge grasped her foot and tried to pull it out but to no success, he began to slowly walk closer to the pillar, she kept trying to pull it out, he kept getting closer and closer, almost to the point of seeing her.

"Man, you really did a number on them, but oh well at least i can go back to work" The man turned away from her direction and to the fennec close to the bodies.  
"What are you going to do with them" He asked the fennec, She stood up and pulled out a cellphone.  
"I have a friend who can help me take these guys to the authorities" Mephiles nodded, she began to type in the number "So what brought you here to wild canyon?"  
"I was just passing by, i saw this temple and curiosity got the best of me" She chuckled and answered.  
"Can't blame you, i was really curious about this place when i found it, i almost spent an entire day here once. It's just so fascinating to see all of this"  
The man stood silently for a moment and silently nodded "Since our deal is done, i will be on my way, goodbye" He began to walk up, the fennec waved at him.

By the time their conversation was over she managed to pull herself out and return to Omega." Someone got there earlier and took the emeralds, we can intercept him on the exit. Shadow ?".

"Approximately five minutes ago he told me he would be on his way, he should be already nearby" Rouge nodded and beckoned him to follow her up the stairs and back to the entrance made by Omega.

* * *

"Rouge i am already at the location, do you read ?" He said to his comn device.  
"Shadow- the emerald- in possession- like you- be there- be careful" Transmission was cut, he closed his comn device and saw a figure emerge from the entrance, an almost mirror like reflect, the figure laughed to himself and said.

"It has been a while hasn't it, Shadow"


	6. Happy reunions

**Hey folks, sorry for the wait, i've decided to re-write the hole chapter and change the perspective, from now on i'll stick to the first person as much as i can.  
** **Be sure to give me your toughts about it, thanks and have a good one :)**

* * *

He stood completely still, a bastardization of me, what did he meant by 'it has been a while' I've never seen him, he was no project on the ark i know about.  
"What are you talking about ? I have never seen you in my entire life" His gaze shifted from one of anger to one of surprise. I watched him stumble in my direction, his head hanging to the side.  
"Never seen you in my entire life" He laughed to himself "Have you really forgotten about our history in that sunken lab in Soleanna, the Solaris project, the scepter ?" He kept staring at me, surprised by my silence. "No...It seems we are having a bit of a falling off, aren't we Shadow ? Perhaps i-"

"Quit telling nonsense, what are you doing here ? Why do you look like me" His face held no surprise, nor offense for me cutting him off.  
"Perhaps it has been such a long time that i have been casted away, at the very least your attitude stood the test of time"

Out of patience and motive to further listen to his mad rambling i prepared myself for a fight "This is your only warning, answer my question" He snickered.  
"My name is Mephiles the Dark you should know it, but it seems you can't recall our first meeting don't you. Oh well, I believe actions will speak louder than words" He bowed his head slightly and held both of his arms out, inviting me to take the first swing.

Charging forward i threw a punch to his jaw, the hit didn't connected, his head moved to the side not in a manner to which someone would avoid a blow, more like my fist just passed trough him, like i was punching a stream of water, something impossible for any mobian with bones, a short glimpse revealed to me that he didn't had any bones, nor blood, only dark inky material, the same one i found on that crystal. His crooked head never once kept his gaze away from me.  
I heard something speeding through the air, and by sheer instinct I hopped away, a sharp blade barely missing my neck.  
"You really don't remember who i am do you ?" His tone was calm, holding some small curiosity.  
"Then allow me to give you a hint" Purple smoke began to come from him, eventually swallowing him whole, once the smoke subsided he dismissed my looks, for a dark purple, his pale blue details replaced with ice blue crystals, his sclera reddened. He extended his arms "How about now ?"

He took notice of my puzzled gazed and let out a disappointed sign "Nothing ? What a shame"  
From nearby him, more pitch black tendrils emerged from the ground, light blue sharp needles scattered throughout its extension, with more intent to wound rather than kill.

I was forced to dance around them as they swung wildly aiming for my legs, eyes and my back. With an opening in the middle of that wild flailing I dashed forward, raising my knee for a kick. A tendril surged up, raising itself up, before crashing down with my eyes as its target. The jet propulsion on my shoe managed to push me away from it's reach.  
"It saddens me that you don't remember our history together. But since I can talk to you, let me ask you this, what does those humans on the ark mean to you ?" What's with this guy ? First he is made out that black stuff and now he knows about the ark ?  
"How do you know about the ark ?"

"I have my ways, now answer me" the tendrils stopped in their place, all of them hurdling around him, "What had she done for you, of what use she was ? why have you mourned over her ?"  
Not being able to stand as he vandalized her memory, I charged forward, chaos spear in hand, the spear cutted clean through the tendrils. Mephiles threw himself to the side.  
"Touchy subject i assume ?" Once again i lept toward him, aiming for his head with the spear before answering him out of sheer anger.  
"She was my best friend." I told him as I kept on with my assault, the tendrils kept showing up in front of him, fruitlessly blocking my attacks.  
" Best friend you say ? Then why have you joined the same people that orchestrated the attack instead of avenging them in her memory, how could you let them go unpunished ?"

I hurled the spear towards him, he moved his head to the side, the energy grazing his left cheek lightly, instead of blood, more of that black material dropped.  
" It was the right thing to do ?" I stared deep into his reptilian eyes, he held a look of surprise.  
"So, the right thing to do was to let her sacrifice be for not ?" He asked, staring back at me, I gritted my teeth and answered.  
"You'll have plenty of time to think about it when G.U.N locks you up"

"Really ? I just got out and don't feel like going back so soon, and besides I had all the time in the world in my former jail. You should know it best of all people" His hand began to melt down forming a crystalline blade.

He charged with a flurry of slashes, the crystal collided with the spear, in the middle of our duel, in the distance I heard a familiar sound of machine guns reverberating, and soon bullets flew through the air interrupting our duel.

Omega flew closer, machine gun ready to fire and Rouge landing by my side, the look-a-like cursed and then said "So many familiar faces in one place, but sadly i have other matters to attend to" With a snap of his fingers, the ground beneath him began to create black puddles, beasts with dark skin, crystal razor sharp teeth and deranged eyes emerged, and quickly they surrounded us, "I bid you all goodbye for now" He flew away laughing to himself before disappearing, leaving us surrounded by those monsters, our backs against each other as the beasts began to close in.

One of them lept in my direction, moving aside from his attack I delivered a kick, launching him backwards a bit, it stumbled around for a bit before looking back at me and soon enough all of them began to charge at us.  
In the middle of all that madness i noticed something, out of sheer anger or rather irritance with the beings smashed one of the beings, with such force that managed to turn the thing back to its liquid state and not regenerate, but while doing it so more of the beasts began to climb on top of him, scratching his armor.  
"These things never end, we gotta get out of here now." Rouge blurted out as she struggled to keep the monsters at bay, things were starting to get out of hand. In the middle of all that chaos i had an idea.  
"Rouge, can you fly us out?" I asked as i dodged the attack of one of the monsters and barely avoided the other. She groaned and replied.  
"I think so" She ducked over the leap of the beast as she replied. I nodded and looked at Omega who was already busy with his own beasts "Omega do you still have any flashbangs ?"  
"I currently have one hundred and fifty 7.62 mm, fifty rounds of buckshot, twenty fragmentation grenades but i do currently have none in my arsenal" i groaned before one of the monsters lept on my back, i felt its claws sink on my skin and i couldn't help but shriek in pain, before hitting in with my shoulder, sending it falling down to the floor, He noticed my struggle and had an idea "But perhaps i could try convert one of my fragmentation grenades to have an effect similar to a stun grenade"  
"Just do it" Omega nodded in response and generated a grenade.  
"Keep the unidentified beings from me while i work on it" I stood behind him and so did Rouge.  
"So, what's your idea Shadsy ?" She asked as she held the monsters back.  
"We stun them with a flash grenade and you fly us away"  
"Not bad, let's just hope we don't get ripped to shreds by the time tinman's done" It took Omega around two minutes to finish his work, but those two minutes were one of the most stressful ones so far, but with enough effort me and Rouge managed to keep them at bay.  
"It is done" Omega tossed me the grenade, i lifted up and warned them.  
"Cover your eyes" before tossing it, the blinding flash, made the shadowy monsters stumble in their place, some of them falling to the floor while others just covered their eyes. Rouge swiftly scooped me and Omega.  
After five minutes of flying she landed us on a clearing, as i was catching my breath Rouge asked.  
"Anyone got injured ?"  
"I just got scratched in the back, how about you ?" She showed me some bruises and cuts.  
"Nothing too bad, definitely had worse though. I assume you had a run in with your look-a-like right ?" I nodded  
"He talked like he knew who i was, he knew about the ARK, about Maria, about me working with G.U.N. But the weird thing is never met him" Rouge scratched her chin as i said "But he is no android, i managed to wound him but he didn't bled. Oddly enough i felt chaos energy coming from him, more energy than one emerald could generate".  
"Any hint on how many emeralds he has ?" Rouge asked me.  
"Possibly three to four"  
"Why would he be collecting them ?"  
"I don't know but we better find the remaining ones before him" Rouge nodded and so did Omega. My communicator began to vibrate, it must be the doctor with the results on the analysis.  
"What did you find out doctor ?" Thomas cleared his throat and answered me.  
"Firstly, the liquid material seems sensitive to strong light and heavy impacts while the glass you found it, seems to be some kind of glass alloy charged with what it seems to be chaos energy" I nodded and then told him about my run in with Mephiles, keeping a focus on the fact that he seemed to be made out of that liquid material, also mentioning about the fact of him changing forms and the shadowy beings he summoned, keeping his knowledge of the Ark a secret. Thomas on the other end of the line sounded surprised and said.  
"Then that explains that other material floating around, honestly it's composition is something like i've never seen before, but i'm even more surprised that it could split itself and form other beings with some kind of intellect. I'll continue to take a look at it and keep you updated on my progress" I thanked him and turned off the comn.  
"So where are we off to next ?" I asked Rouge, to which she grinned as she looked at her own pda and said.  
"According to the energy readings, somewhere around the outskirts of Orchadville" I nodded.  
"Before we head there, be prepared, since he seems to be after the emeralds we'll inevitably have a run in with him too" Omega and Rouge nodded, before moving out.


	7. First Impressions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks, sorry for taking too long, i've been pretty busy with irl stuff, creative blocks and stuff.  
> Don't worry I'm not going to drop this story. Thanks and have a good one.

_ It seems none of them have any recollection of who I am, does that mean that I failed Solaris? It can’t be... if I exist so does Iblis I have not failed my duty yet, I still stand and have four of the seven emeralds, I still have a chance to right my wrongs, fulfill my duty and redeem myself in the eyes of Solaris.  _

Mephiles told himself as he followed the emerald through the woods, at this point, it barely mattered if they knew of his existence, he had four of the five emeralds, he kept following the gem until dawn, stopping midair near a lone windmill, covered in moss, one of the mills were torn, the door slightly open ajar, gently pushing the door open he entered the stone tower, dust still flew around the air, the rising sun shyly illuminating the insides, a few old crates scattered about, some cracked open, some still closed, most of them housed spoiled grains, seeds, and sorts.

The gem’s glow kept constant, showing now variation as he walked inside the windmill, walking up the stairs there were more grains, crates, and surprisingly a rocking chair in front of a window with a view on the vast planes, the wood almost rotten, the whole thing looked like it could give away at the slightest pressure, but the craftsmanship was admirable. Besides that, no signs of the prize.

As he was about to walk away from that place, the sun shone upon a cracked crate nearby a torn bag, and underneath it, a small door. The wood was of a darker shade than the crates, the iron that once held everything together was covered in an orange-ish coat, a kick was more than enough to crack the thing open.

Descending down the old stairs, he was met with several tables, some broken shelves, some intact, piles of ruined books, it’s contents utterly ruined, burned beyond recognition, while a few seemed to survive, and far in the back dust-covered instruments of science, beakers and measuring glasses covered in dust, some of them filled with some kind of liquid. Close to it, a broken window, the sun shining down the hole and upon the cracks, the emerald and by its broken shards of glass and curiously a small booklet. 

With the fifth emerald in his hands, he reached out for the booklet, after shaking the dust off and looking at its old yellow pages revealed a journal of a man performing an experiment, described by the author as ‘something that close-minded fools shunned upon’ such studies began to gather a small crowd of others equally interested in it. 

Not bothering to read the other entries he flipped the pages to the last one, it ends with him planning to move out due to rising suspicion of a close friend betraying him

He stared at the last pages with a blank stare, something, a vision slowly crept it’s way on his mind, taking his full attention. Vaguely remembering an image, a figure, surrounded by open books, vivaciously taking notes, wide-eyed in pure amazement.

Such vision ended as subtly and abruptly as it came, not bothering to process such a thing, he told himself ‘No time for daydreaming, I have work to do’. Stuffing the emerald inside his person, as he made his way out of the windmill, he tried to distract himself by thinking of pretty much anything, how he came to be, his duty, his grudges, even the trivial matter of which color he liked best or the question of rather will it rain today, but as much as he tried to keep that vision out of his mind it always came back to him reaching the point of anger.

But still, his mind couldn’t stop thinking about it, he just stood there, immersed in his thoughts, he would’ve stayed there for some time, if not for the sound of the door being opened and several muffled footsteps could be heard right on top of him.

He was no longer alone.

Focusing solely on the muffled voices, he stayed dead quiet, he heard a familiar voice.

“Are you sure this is the place? It doesn’t look like it ?” After some focusing and memory jogging, he recognized it as Silver’s voice, followed by Sonic’s.

“Should be it, emerald’s going off like crazy here, it has to be it” then another voice sounded, had a young tone to it, one that he didn’t recognize.

“I’ll take a look upstairs” He heard the sound of the creek of the old staircase as the young one climbed up. The footsteps began to grow closer until he heard the hatch opening, light creeping its way into the dark, Mephiles hid in the darkest corner of the room and watched.

Silver crept its way down, squinting his eyes in the dark“huh? Hey guys I think I found something” After a short time the two hedgehogs began to search the place. For once, he dreaded the fact they had an emerald, their emerald began to react with his.

The light gave him away. 

A moment froze in time, their eyes gazed at each other, no one saying a word.

Each side knew, the other had an emerald, fighting Sonic alone is easy, but Silver was by his side, he could easily undo all his work, but thankfully, Mephiles was well aware of his abilities, its strengths, and pitfalls.

Halting a hulking mech was no challenge, but a swarm of frantically moving Shadelings…

Before Sonic could even open his mouth he saw thousands of glowing eyes on the roof, floor, and walls. Mephiles lifted his arm and pointed at both of them.

Without a second of hesitation, the room turned into a black hurricane, their claws lashed against their skins, Mephiles easily blended in and made his way to the broken window. He looked at the two hedgehogs, the shadelings that swarmed them gave him a clean getaway.


End file.
